Welcome to Expound our verse
by verse study of God's word. Our goal is to expand your
knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the word of God
in a way that is interactive, enjoyable, and congregational. Every time I travel I
think of Paul the Apostle. Why? Because it's estimated that Paul
the Apostle, in his lifetime, traveled 13,400 miles. He didn't get on an airplane,
didn't have a hotel room. He usually went from prison
to prison, from city to city. And those were 13,400 what
we would call airline miles. Not that he got on an
airline, but you just draw a straight line
and add up the miles. But if you think of walking
that and the circuitous routing of his travels, it was many
more miles than 13,400. And traveling as I mentioned,
can be very exhausting. But for Paul, it
was very fruitful because he begins on his first
missionary journey traveling seeing what the Lord
wanted him to do. And God used him
to plant churches. So in 47 AD, there were
no churches in the areas that he traveled on his
first missionary journey. 10 years later, 57
AD, there are many. So in 10 years, he has
planted several churches. On his first missionary
journey, Paul traveled-- if you remember,
I'll just refresh-- from Antioch in Syria,
and he went to Cyprus. And then from Cyprus,
he went north by ship and landed in the
area of Galatia And in Galatia,
he went to cities like Lystra, Derbe,
Iconium, Perga of Pamphylia And then, he went
back to Antioch. Now he's going to begin his
second missionary journey. And his desire is
to go back over all of those areas on his
first trip and just see how those believers are doing. You know, he went there
and he did evangelism. And it was very successful. He was very controversial,
but he had great results. So now it's time to go
back, he thinks, and visit those people who responded
on the first trip, see how they're doing. That's where we left off
at the end of chapter 15 around verse 36. But Paul has started in 10
years churches in four Roman provinces. The province of Galatia-- which we covered in the first
trip, and I just mentioned-- The province of Macedonia-- where he's going to
go in chapter 16-- the province of Achaia
and the province of what was called
back then Asia-- not modern day Asia-- Asia, which was a part of what
we would know as Asia Minor. So in four Roman provinces,
churches are established. It's time to go back. And in going back, he
talks to his buddy, his friend, his colleague
in ministry, Barnabas. But we know him better so we
just call him Barney by now. He says, Barney, we
ought to go back and just see how those
brethren are fairing. So they both agreed. They agreed on the mission. They agreed on the action. The mission of the team,
they both agreed on. The composition of the
team, they didn't agree on. And the problem
was over the cousin of Barnabas named John Mark. If you remember back in chapter
13 verse 13 of that chapter, it says that, "when they
were at Perga of Pamphylia, John Mark, Barbabas's
cousin, departed from them and went back to Jerusalem." Evidently, Paul did not take
kindly to his returning home. He saw it as a failure. He saw it as a weakness. Barnabas, however, did not. You've got to understand
Barnabas is Mr. Encouragement. Paul isn't so encouraging. Well, let's just refresh
our memories, verse 36, "then after some days,
Paul said to Barnabas, let us now go back and visit
our brethren in every city where we have preached
the word of the Lord and see how they're doing. Now Barnabas was
determined to take with them John, called Mark. But Paul insisted that they
should not take with them. The one who had departed
from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with
them to the work." He didn't finish out the
work that they had set out to do in the first trip. Then verse 39, "the contention
became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took
Mark, sailed to Cyprus. But Paul chose
Silas and departed, being commended by the
brethren to the grace of God. And he went to the area
of Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches." Now notice the language in the
verses that we have covered. Notice that in verse 37 it
says, "Barnabas was determined." He made up his mind. He's bringing his
cousin John Mark again. We're going to call for
him, he's in Jerusalem. I want him to go with us again. He was determined,
he put his foot down. Now notice verse 38, strong
language with Paul the Apostle. It says, "but Paul insisted." So one is determined,
the other insisted. And then verse 39,
"then the contention," Now that word contention
is an interesting word. The Greek word is paroxumos,
where we get the English word paroxysum which is to
have a fit, a heated argument, a divisive,
confrontive disagreement. A split was inevitable-- a
paroxysum, an angry argument that led to a split. That's a very, very strong word. Now I can just imagine
the conversation. Barney, let's go back. Barney says, great. I'll call for John Mark. Oh no you won't. We tried that already. It was your idea to bring
him on the first trip. I'm not interested
in bringing him. He didn't finish the task. He's a featherweight,
he's a lightweight. Aw, come on, Paul. Give him another chance. If you remember, I,
Barnabas gave you a chance. I was the one who stood by you
when the church at Jerusalem wanted nothing to do with you. I stood up for you. Doesn't matter, he's not coming. And evidently,
they couldn't agree so they agreed to disagree and
go in two different directions. Now people often ask,
well, who was right? And we'd like to say,
well, Paul is right. Because after all,
it's Paul the Apostle. My view is that both are right. You say, well, what a shame. They divided from one another. Well, you could look
at it as a shame or you could look
at it as a victory. Now God has two teams, not one. Now they can cover more ground. OK, they disagree, that's OK. Why? Because later on at
the end of Paul's life he will write something
very interesting to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4 He said,
"only Luke stood with me. Demus hath forsaken me, having
loved this present world. When you come,
bring Mark with you also for he is useful
to me for the ministry." So now at the end
of Paul's journey, he admits how
useful John Mark has become to him in doing some
form of ministry on his team. So a division has
caused a split. Now there are two teams. Why the split? Because you have two different
leadership styles going on. And I just want you
to make note of this. It's not that one is bad
and the other is good. They're just both different. You see, Paul
looked at a person, and he asked a question. What can that person
do for the work of God? Barnabas, when he
looked at a person, said what can the work of
God do for that person? Two different ways of doing
ministry, both are OK. Both fit different tasks. So for Barnabas he
was a rehabilitator, he was the son of encouragement. That's how he got his name. He had this personality
of finding people who were broken and made a mistake. And he would stick up for
them and stand up for them and get them going again. And Paul thought, OK, thank
you for doing that for me. And that was OK then but. On these missionary journeys. I can't afford that. We have a higher calling. We have a task to do. What can this person
do for the work of God? For Paul, church
wasn't a parking lot. It was a launching pad. For Barnabas, church was more of
a parking lot, rehabilitation-- got to get these people
whole, get them going, and give him a second chance. All of those ideas are correct. It just depends on the task. And so God, in His grace, in
His wisdom, now has two teams-- one to go to Cypress
where Barnabas is from. Barney owns land there, sold
land, gave it to the apostles in the early part of the book of
Acts, so he's familiar with it. They had been there on the
first journey so they're going to go cover Cypress. Paul and another
partner are going to go back over to the area
that Paul and Barnabas first went on. So verse 1:16, "then he
came to Derbe and Lystra." Do you remember those two
towns from previous studies in the book of Acts? Derbe and Lystra were
not kind to Paul. Paul got stoned there. I don't mean he got loaded
there, didn't get high there. They stoned him there. Paul wasn't like getting stoned. They threw rocks at him
and thought he was dead. So they go back over
to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, "a certain
disciple was there named Timothy, the son of
a certain Jewish woman who believed. But his father was a Greek." Now we know her name, don't we? It's not mentioned here, but
in 2 Timothy chapter 1 Paul writes her name, Lois,
was the mother of Timothy. And we know his
grandmother's name. Anybody remember? Eunice. Eunice and Lois, both Jewish
women messianic believers, believed that Yeshua
was the Jewish messiah, Jesus was the Messiah. But it was a mixed marriage. You have a Jewish now
believer and an unbelieving Greek father. But it mentions Timothy. And it says, "he was well
spoken of by the brethren, who were at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted to have
him go on with him. And he took him
and circumcised him because of the Jews who were
in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek. And as they went
through the cities, they delivered to them
the decrees to keep, which were determined by
the apostles and the elders at Jerusalem. And so the church's
restrengthen in faith and increased in number daily." Now do you remember the
decrees from Jerusalem? I know it's been a few weeks
since we've been in Acts, but do you recall that they were
able to boil them down and say, look, tell the Gentiles
that you don't have to keep the laws of Moses to be saved. You don't have to be
circumcised to be saved. You just have to abstain from
blood, from things sacrificed to idols, and from fornication. If you do these things,
you do well, farewell. Very easy. They didn't want to lay a
burden on them as Peter said, "that we nor our fathers
were ever able to bear." So they delivered
the decrees that were given by the Jerusalem church. And it's interesting
that in the decree it was to answer the question
of must a person be circumcised to be saved. And yet, Paul takes Timothy
in what does he do with him? Circumcise him. Now we wonder why. If you answered the question
of circumcision in chapter 15 and you're not telling people
to be circumcised to be saved, why on earth are you going
to have Timothy circumcised? Very easy answer. And the answer is in your
Bible, right there in your text. It says in verse 3, "he took
him and circumcised him." What does that say after that? Because of the Jews, "or
they all knew that his father was a Greek." One translation says-- and
it would be better understood if you translated it this way-- "he circumcised him out of
consideration for the Jews." You see, Paul didn't want to
make circumcision an issue when witnessing
the Jewish people. It's like if I have to
get into this conversation and explain why this
person isn't circumcised because that's the only
question that's on their minds. They know his background,
Timothy's background. They know his dad
is an unbeliever. And chances are he's
not circumcised. It's going to be an
impediment to preaching to the Jewish people. It's just like I have
a friend in Israel, I met with him this time for
a couple hours on this trip. He owns a tour
company there, the one that we used in the country. He's a Jewish believer. His father started the
first messianic synagogue in modern Israel way
back in the 40s-- the late 40s, early 50s-- first messianic
synagogue, first set of messianic believers
in modern Israel. His son, this friend of
mine, keeps kosher law. And I said, Sammy,
why do you do that? He goes, just because
now it's not an issue. When I went to Jewish
friends if they see me not keeping kosher law, it's
such an impediment to them that I make it
not an impediment. Now it's not an issue. Now though listen to me. So to remove the
roadblock, it's like what Paul said, "I become
all things to all men, that I might by all
means save some. To the Jew, I become a Jew. To the Greek, I
become as a Greek." And so to remove that from
his in-road with them-- it was really an act of
consideration for them-- he had Timothy circumcised. But the verses introduced
us to Timothy here, whom Paul will now take on
his second missionary journey. If you know much
about Timothy, you know that Timothy
became Paul's protege. He was called by Paul,
"my son in the faith, my true son in the faith,"
26 times in Paul's writings, Paul mentions Timothy. In six different letters
when Paul writes the letter, he writes it not just from
Paul but from Paul and Timothy. Timothy became very
important to Paul. Paul took him on on his
second missionary journey, which begins here. Later on when Paul goes to
Jerusalem with an offering of money-- a financial offering
that the Gentile believers took for the poor, struggling
church in Jerusalem-- Timothy went on that trip. And much later on
Paul will tell Timothy to go to Ephesus, a place where
he spent a few years himself getting a church started
and teaching them. He's going to send Timothy to
Ephesus to pastor the church. And his job will be to
teach correct doctrine, to raise up good leadership,
to confront false teachers, set them straight, get them
out of the church if need be. And in all those cases, Timothy
proved faithful, so much so that later on
when Paul writes his book of Philippians-- he's going to visit Philippi
to in this chapter-- he's going to say,
"for I have no one who is like minded as Timothy." Isopsuchos is the Greek word,
means like-minded equal souled. We track, we're on
the same wavelength. He values what I value. He's a true son in the faith. So Timothy, from this point
on, becomes very, very valuable to Paul the Apostle. Interesting thing
about Paul, he reached into the younger generation. And he seems, on his journeys as
part of the makeup of his team, to have a younger man with him. On the first trip
it was John Mark, not so much on the second trip. But on the second trip as if to
replace that zeal that, maybe, John Mark had initially,
he brings Timothy. OK, he's got a good
reputation, well spoken of, very energetic,
very zealous. I'm going to train him. I'm going to take
him under my wing. I'm going to instill
my principles into the next generation. Why? Because he knew
that's the future. I'm always on the lookout
for young men with that fire in their eyes to do ministry. And when I find one
who really, really, really wants to serve
the Lord no matter what, that's worth investing in. Because you want to
make sure that you're going to have those
people who are going to carry on the ministry
when they carry you out. And Timothy will do that-- one of his young men for Saul of
Tarsus or for Paul the Apostle. So what does that mean? It means that for the next
few years in all of the cities he's going to
visit, Timothy will be able to listen as
Paul preaches sermons. He will be with Paul as he
has individual conversations with people. He'll be with Paul when he's
in the synagogue arguing with people about Judaism,
faith versus grace versus works, et cetera. And in all of that it's
going to shape him. It's not so much his
preaching as much as following his lifestyle
and being around him for such a long period of time. He's going to get
and have imparted to him those values of Paul. Somebody once said
the ministry is more caught than it has taught. You can teach a person
classes on theology and teach them all
sorts of head knowledge, but to just be able to
observe someone's life up close like Timothy did
with Paul is tremendous. Howard Hendricks,
who is now in heaven, once wrote that every
Christian, every disciple, every follower of Christ
needs three relationships. You grade yourself as to
how you're doing on these. He said everybody needs a
Paul, some mentor, someone who inspires their
faith, meets with them regularly, semi-regularly,
inspires them in the things of the faith. Then he said everybody needs
a Barnabas, because we all need encouragement. You feel down, I'm
not going to make it, I quit Lord can't
use me anymore. You have somebody
go, oh yes, He can. Let's get up and try it again. But then Hendricks
said everybody needs a Timothy,
that person that they can pour their life into
pour themselves into and help shape their future. So evaluate how you're doing
in those three relationships. Who's your Paul, your
Barnabas, your Timothy? And it says in verse
5, "so the churches were strengthened in the faith
and increased in number daily. Now when they had
gone through Phrygia and the region of
Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit
to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia,
they tried to go into Bythinia, but the Holy Spirit
did not permit them. So passing by Mysia,
they came down to Troas." So get the picture here. They are moving from
the east to the west. And as they moved from
the east to the west, they are evaluating where
to take the gospel next. So they attempt
to go south, that would be the area at this time
of Ephesus Colossae, Sardis, Smyrna. It's an area of what
today modern day Turkey, I've been to those places. But they met resistance. They were unsuccessful. Luke writes, "the Holy
Spirit didn't let them." So they thought
well, do we do now? Well, let's go north to Bythnia. Bythnia is-- if you
were to look at a map, you would see that it's the
southern shore of the Black Sea. It would be the area of what
would be Nicaea and Nicomedia. Again, the Holy Spirit said
no, didn't allow them to go. So they have come
from one direction they try to go south, no. They try to go north, no. So they go to Troas. Now I've got to tell you
something, I love Troas. I've always been drawn to
Troas because of this verse. What is going to happen
because they go to Troas changes the world. It's the reason
the gospel leaves that part of the Near East
and launches around the world. Because it gets now for
the first time into Europe. Eventually, it will go
all the way to Rome. But it makes that leap now
from Asia, Asia Minor-- those Roman areas-- all
the way now into Europe. So it's a pivotal point. So I remember one time we did a
tour, a journeys of Paul tour. And it was by bus
through Turkey. And these were
long days on a bus, because I had this romantic
idea that we're going to see all these cool places. And they were cool, I
thought they were cool. And one of them was Troas. And I remember
telling the people who put together the tour
that I want to go to Troas. They go, where? And I told them where and
showed them where in the Bible. And so they said, why
do you want to go there? Nobody goes there. And when I went there I saw why. There's nothing there anymore. The city is gone, the
harbor is washed away. There's just a few ruins. There's a little
restaurant and a little-- it's like a 7-11
store but scaled down. And I had the people on
our bus off on the beach. And we were on the
stones by the ruins and just going through this
section of the book of Acts. But this was such a
pivotal moment for Paul, because he had gone from one
direction to another direction to another direction,
it was no, no, no. Finally, he's at Troas, thinking
what does God want me to do? And that's when he gets the
vision of a man from Macedonia. OK, freeze frame for a moment. Let's say you were there. And you happened to
be Troas, and you walked up to Paul the
Apostle and said, Paul. Where are you going? Where is the Lord
leading you, man? He would say to
you, I have no idea. I haven't a clue
what God is saying. Now I bring that up because
I've had people ask me that question. What's God saying
in your life lately? And they expect some
profound answer. They don't expect I don't know. I got nothing. But Paul said, I got nothing. That's what he would
say, he did not know. All Paul could tell you now
is that every place I've chosen to go is a closed door. And Paul is learning a
very important lesson. I wonder if you've
learned in this lesson. God's no is just as
important as God's go. Closed doors are one of
the ways God leads you. Why isn't God opening a door? Because He doesn't
want you to go there. Isn't God's leading wonderful? So the Bible says, Psalm 37,
"the steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord,
and he delights in His way." Did you get that? "The steps of a righteous
man," every single step that a person makes in the Lord,
the Lord directs those steps. "The steps of a righteous
man are ordered by the Lord." But there's another truth. The stops of a righteous man
are also ordered by the Lord. God's no is just as
important as God's go. So Paul stopped,
doesn't know what to do, has no word of
revelation from God, doesn't know where he's going. Now God's going to reveal, very
dramatically, through a vision, where to go. A couple of thoughts
to tie this up. I think you would agree
that Paul, his personality, he was headstrong. Would you agree with that? Yeah, he was a pretty
determined guy. He's just going to go
until he hits a wall. And he hit two walls. Bam, whoa. Goes another, bam whoa. OK, I'm not going there again. Now I'm going to sit and
wait at the intersection till God gives me a green light. He was pretty headstrong. How do I know this? Because later on he's determined
to go to Jerusalem for one final time, it ends up. And he goes to the
shores of Meletus. And he calls for
the Ephesian elders. And they gather around
him, and he says something interesting goes. "Now I want you to see that I
go bound in the Spirit, bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem,
not knowing the things which will happen to me there, except
that the Holy Spirit says in every place the chains
and tribulation await me. But none of these
things move me, nor do I count my own
life dear to myself, that I might finish
my course with joy in the ministry of the gospel
by the Lord Jesus Christ." That's headstrong. Yeah, I'm going to Jerusalem. I don't know what's
going to happen, except everywhere I
go, I get these words from the Lord that say that
it's not going to be good, not going to be good, not going
to be good, lot of beating, a lot of tribulation,
a lot of pain. I don't care. I'm going, see you. And he keeps going. And when he makes it to
the shores of Lebanon, he goes to Tyre. He gets another set of
revelations saying, Paul, they're going to beat
you up at Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit is
saying, through all of these means, all
of these people, that it's going to be bad. That happens in Tyre. He goes all the way down the
coast to Casaraea on the coast. And he goes into the house
of Philip the evangelist, we read about him. And there's this
strange prophet named Agabus, who is very
visual in his prophecies. He didn't give vocal prophecies. He gave visual prophecies, sort
of like Ezekiel and Jeremiah. He grabs Paul's belt
and ties himself up in front of the church. And he goes, the man
who owns this built is going to be bound by
the Jews at Jerusalem and given to the
hands of the Gentiles. It was Paul's belt. So it
says Paul's entire team, as well as those in Philip's
house, "all begged him with tears not to
go to Jerusalem." Now listen to Paul's
response he said, "what do you mean by weeping
and breaking my heart? For I am willing not
only to be bound, but to die for the
Lord Jesus Christ." OK what do you do
with a guy like that? You let him go. That's what you do. A guy that's that
headstrong, you just don't tap him on the
shoulders and go, I think the Lord doesn't
and want you to go, That's not going to work. He's got to hit a wall. Some people are
attuned to the Spirit, God can move them easily. Others are a little
bit headstrong and take more dramatic means for
God to get a hold of and direct their lives. Bob Pierce, who started World
Vision and then Samaritan's Purse, had a great saying. He said God gently
leads His children. Me, He yanks. Have you ever been
yanked by God? Couple of times I've been
yanked by the Lord, where he gets your attention. OK, I get it. And so Paul hit a
wall, hit another wall. Now he's in Troas,
and he's waiting. Now here's another question. It says, "the Holy Spirit
forbade Paul to go on." how? By what means did the Holy
Spirit forbid Paul to go where he wanted to go, those two no's? Well the answer
is we don't know. You can guess. You could say, well,
maybe he didn't have a peace in his heart. You know people say that. I don't feel a peace about this. Of course, you can say
that after a bad meal. But you know, it could be
that he just lacked peace to go in a direction. I don't think so. It could be that there were
political policies that forbade him to go from
one area to another area. He couldn't traverse a
border crossing, so to speak. But we're just not told. It just says that the
Holy Spirit forbade him. Maybe it was by direct
revelation, after all, he got one in Damascus or
on the road to Damascus. You know, the whole
Lord Jesus appeared to him, that's pretty dramatic. But we're just not told. Now let me give you another
way of thinking about this. It's a possibility. I don't know how the
Holy Spirit said no. But it could be--
and I lean to this-- he got sick. Now, I know that my brothers and
sisters who believe in a faith theology would disagree with
that, because, after all, they would say Paul the Apostle
would never get sick. But the problem is
you have to pull out and rip out and destroy
verses in the New Testament to believe that. But I believe Paul got sick. How do I know this? Because he just
came from Galatia-- do you remember the
book of Galatians? He said, "the reason I minister
to you in Galatia for as long as I did is because I
had a physical ailment, a physical infirmity. That's why I extended my
ministry to you there." And he said, "you were
so filled with love you would have plucked
out your own eyes and give them given them
to me if you could." So perhaps he had
an eye disease. But certainly, he did get sick. That's why he ministered
in Galatia as he did and as long as he did. He could have come
with that sickness. Because he came from Galatia,
and he tried to go to Bythinia, tried to go south. The Holy Spirit said no. So now he's at Troas. Not only that, but who
wrote the book of Acts? Shout it out if
you know it, Luke. What was Luke's profession? He was a doctor. In verse 10, which we're going
to read in just a few moments-- trust me, we're almost there-- for the first time
in the book of Acts, the writer of the book of
Acts uses the personal plural pronoun we, indicating
that at this point Luke joins Paul's team. And from now on, he's
writing not they, not this is what Paul's told
me, but we because now I'm a part of the team. That doctor joins
the team in Troas. And it could be that Paul
needed that personal physician for the rest of the trip,
because of his sickness. That could be. It could be as simple and as
ordinary as he just got sick, and that's how the Holy Spirit
was forbidding him to go. But at the end of the
day, we just don't know. Verse 9, "and a vision
appeared to Paul." So he's in Troas. "And a vision appeared
to Paul at night. A man of Macedonia
stood and pleaded with him, saying, come over
to Macedonia and help us." He's on the seacoast,
he would have to take a boat ride
to get to Macedonia. But he has this vision. Now after he had
seen the vision, "immediately, we sought
how to go in and Macedonia, concluding that the
Lord had called them to preach the gospel to them." I got to laugh at that verse. It's, see, we tried
to go that direction, couldn't go that direction,
tired to go that direction, couldn't go there. We came from here, tried to
go there, tried to go there. Now I get a vision from heaven
that says come over there. And I wake up, go you know,
I conclude that that's what the Lord wants us to do. Duh, you get a vision
from God saying go there. So we conclude-- I just
like the way it's worded. "We concluded that we
are to go to Macedonia." God called them to
preach the gospel. Now notice in verse 10, the we. "After he had seen the
vision, immediately, we-- that's the first
use of that term from the author's perspective
in the book of Acts. "We"-- so Luck joins the team--
"sough to go to Macedonia, concluding that the
Lord had called us"-- Luke's now a part of that team-- "to preach the gospel to them." Who was the man from Macedonia
that Paul saw in the vision? Anybody know? It's sort of a trick
question because there really is no answer. I don't know. Some have speculated that
it was Luke himself, Luke the doctor from Troas was-- that's what Sir William Ramsay
the New Testament scholar believed. I don't know I think
I would discount that. Others believe-- William
Barclay, the New Testament commentator, said
it was probably a vision of Alexander the Great,
the archetypical Macedonian man, the man who tried to join
the eastern part of the world and the Western part
of the world together that was his dream,
to unite them as one. And that perhaps he
had seen this vision of the historical
figure of Alexander the Great, saying, come over
to Macedonia and help us. But Paul had never met
Alexander the Great, he'd been dead a long time. So he probably wouldn't
have known that anyway. The answer is we just
don't know who it was. It was just a man
from Macedonia. Therefore, "sailing from Troas
as we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the
next day came to Neapolis," which is the port in Macedonia. Now that means it
took only two days to get there, which means
the winds were at their back, the winds were favorable. I bring this up because later
on when he takes his journey by boat-- the prison boats
sailed from Caesarea to Rome-- in Acts 27, it will
take him five days to get from this
place to that place. The winds were against him. Isn't that funny how life is? Sometimes, you go somewhere
and the winds are at your back, It's just easy going. And so you go, oh
isn't God good? This must be confirmation
this is the Lord's will. Well, was it any less
the Lord's will for Paul to go to Rome the
way he did later on? No. And yet, the winds
were against him. And yet, he had a shipwreck. But sometimes, the
winds are at your back. And sometimes, they're not. And you can't always think
it's because it's an easy road that this is the Lord's will. You does go with it. And if you are determined
because you believe God called you there, so what? I'll get on another boat. That sinks, get on another boat. But on this journey, the
winds were at their back. "And from there
to Philippi, which is the foremost of that
part of Macedonia," a colony, meaning
a Roman colony. They prided themselves in being
well, Rome away from Rome. Everything you would
see and get in Rome, you would get to a
lesser degree but have all of the accolades and-- all of the accouterments,
I should say, of Rome in that colony
city of Philippi. "And we were staying in
that city for some days. And on the Sabbath day,
we went out of the city to the river side where
prayer was customarily made. And we sat down and spoke
to the women who met there. According to Jewish law, if you
had 10 Jewish males in a city, you would establish a
synagogue-- a meeting place, a gathering center-- for the reading of the
law, for the fellowship. You would have an actual
place called the synagogue. However, according
to Jewish law, if you had less
than 10 Jewish men, you didn't build a synagogue. So it indicates there are
less than 10 Jewish men in the city of Philippi. But there are women who
gather at a river ride. Why a river side? Why did Jewish law
stipulate a river side. Well, it's interesting. Part of Jewish worship is
to be cleansed ceremonially from your defilement, from your
sin, in a little font called a mikvah. And a mikvah is like a baptism. You go in, you soak in it, you
get out of it, you dry off, you say your prayers,
you're cleansed, et cetera. Well, the law of the mikvah-- the little baptism--
is that water has to flow in and flow out of it. Even if it's just a
little bit, the water-- listen to that description-- the
water has to be living water, not stagnant water, not dead
water, moving, living water. So if you couldn't
have a synagogue because there were fewer
than 10 Jewish males, you could meet at a river
side, because the river was living water, moving water. Now this must have been a
disappointment for Paul. He sees a man of Macedonia
saying come over to Macedonia and help us. They go come on, God's in this. They go over to Macedonia,
they don't see a man. They see women meeting
at a river side. And Paul must have
been thinking, huh. That's not kind
of what I thought was going to happen
once I got to Macedonia. I thought I'd, like, meet
the man I saw in the vision. Well it goes downhill from here. Because he's going
to get arrested, he's going to get
thrown in jail. And he's going to get
beaten in Phillippa it's going to go
from bad to worse in a very short period of time. You know the old
joke-- and I've said it many times-- is that
whenever Paul or travel go from one city to the next city,
whenever he'd hit a new town, he would say, excuse me. Could you give me the
directions to the nearest jail? I just want to know where I'm
going to be spending the night tonight, because
he seemed to end up in a lot of
incarceration facilities. And he will end up in
the Philippian jail. Now, I'm painting
this picture because I want you to see a point. God is leading Paul
every step of the way. "The steps of a righteous
man are ordered by the Lord." God's leading his steps. It's not what he anticipated,
it's now what he expected. Kent Hughes, a Bible
commentator that I've always enjoyed reading, said
that the guidance of God is like a multifaceted jewel. He doesn't guide only one way. He has a variety up
his sleeve of ways to direct and guide your life-- closed doors, opened
doors, direct revelation, peace in the heart,
disease, prosperity-- a number of ways
God guards guides your life, which
I've always enjoyed. I've always viewed following
God as the greatest adventure possible. Who cares about a
predictable life? You can get that anywhere. You follow God, you don't
know what you're in store for. But you're going to
go on a wild ride. It's going to be
quite an adventure. And God has all sorts
of ways of directing His children as he did to Paul. The Bible says, "commit
your way into the Lord, and He will do it." Just let Him do it. Commit your way to the
Lord, and then sit back and enjoy the ride. Here's why it ought
to be an adventure. Where is this ride you're
on taking you eventually? Where are you going to
end up when it's all done? Heaven. So your destination on
this wild ride is secure. Why not enjoy the view? Why not look around,
roll down the windows, get some fresh air, say whoa,
that's a bump in the road. Whoa, I didn't expect that turn. But enjoy it. Why go through life with
clenched fists and teeth? Ugh, I got to go following God. Who wants that? I want to see the
joy of the Lord, because you don't know where
He's going to take you next. So Paul, I get a vision from
God after seeing, hearing no and no. I go to Macedonia,
it's what I expected. I see women in river
side, what's up? What's God up to? well, you're going
to go to prison and get beaten, how's that? And before you go, oh, that
can't be the will of God. Ask Paul, tonight, if
you could be in heaven, do you think it was worth it,
to get beaten up and thrown in that Philippinan jail? Are you were angry at God? Are you mad because God allowed
that to happen in your life? Paul would say, are you nuts? Do you not know
about the jailer who received Christ and his
family and were baptized. And the church that
developed there? Well I'm getting
ahead of myself. Verse 14, "now a
certain woman"-- this is part of the
river side gang-- "a certain woman
named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple
from the city of Thyatira who worship God. The Lord opened her heart to
heed the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her
household were baptized, she begged us,
saying if you have judged me to be faithful to
the Lord, come to my house and stay. And so she persuaded us." We can piece some things
together in these verses and get a little
composite understanding of who this woman was. She was a business woman. She was from Asia Minor,
that's where Thyatira. So she's not a local. She has moved from Thyatira
and set up shop in Philippi. Why? Well, Thyatira was known
historically for a product that it harvested and that was
a purple cloth, because they had access to a very rare kind
of purple dye in that area. And so purple cloth
came from Thyatira. Purple cloth was
very expensive, only the wealthy could afford it. Usually kings and people
of royal stature had it. So she made probably
a very good living, moving from that area having
a direct line for manufacture of it, where she
could then sell it in that part of Eastern Europe. And so she was a business woman. Even Homer, by the way Homer,
the writer of the Iliad and the Odyssey-- years before the
writer said and noted about the luxurious purple-dyed
fabrics of Thyatira. So it was well established
as a place that reveled in this kind of cloth. And it says, "the Lord
opened her heart." And so she becomes a believer. She gets baptized. Now she's a business woman. And can I add, she was
probably a very successful businesswoman. And I say that
because just the way she talks to Paul
and the team, says, if you have counted me faithful,
then you'll stay at my house and let me keep you up there
and give you what you need. Now that's just putting
the pressure on him. If you've counted
me faithful, you'll let me take care of you guys. In other words, if you don't
let me put you in my house, you haven't counted me faithful. So she's just got
a good technique, kind of a high
pressured sales person. That's how I view her
just by her wording. I would also surmise that
she has probably a nice home, a sizable home. Because in verse 15 she has
a guest facility for Luke and Paul and Silas and
the other team members to be housed there,
taken care of. And in verse 40, it would
seem that the brethren-- that is the Christians of
the church in Philippi-- were meeting in her home. So I think that's
probably enough said about her, an accurate
description of who she is. But think of it this way,
the Lord opened her heart, and she became a Christian. She opened her
home, and it became a church, beautiful tie-together
of those two things. "Now it happened," verse
16, "as we went to prayer"-- that's river side prayer-- "that a certain
slave girl possessed with the spirit of divination"--
she demon possessed, spirit of divination-- "met us, who brought her masters
much profit by fortune-telling. "This girl followed Paul and
us and cried out, saying, these men are the servants of
the most high God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation." Now what's wrong
with what she said? What she said was true. She she's demon-possessed,
and she speaks something true. And most people would
hear this and go, well that's good advertising. That's free advertising. But Paul doesn't want to let
Satan do his advertising. So "she did this for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed,
turned and said to this spirit, I command you in the
name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out that very hour. But when her masters saw
that their hope of profit was gone"-- it was all
about the bottom line-- "they seized Paul and
Silas, dragged him into the marketplace
to the authorities. And they brought them to
the magistrates and said, these men, being Jews,
exceedingly trouble our city. And they teach
customs, which are not lawful for us being Romans
to receive or observe." Then the multitude rose
up together against them. And the magistrates
tore off their clothes and commanded them to
be beaten with rods." The Romans believed in
corporal punishment. They would beat
prisoners with a whip. Jesus was beaten
with a flagellum, we've described that
on several occasions. Sometimes, and in this case,
they would beat prisoners with rods-- sticks, hard sticks. And they would
put welts on them. It's interesting that there
is a country across the world from us that believes
in corporal punishment, a very sophisticated
and advanced country called Singapore. And if you go to
Singapore, what's amazing is that you don't
see gum on the sidewalks, it's punishable. You don't hear certain kinds
of language or advertisement, it's punishable. And certain activities
are punishable by beating with a cane, a stick, a rod. Some of you will remember
the hoopla back in 1994. You remember that? When a 19-year-old
American was over there and was arrested for
vandalism and theft. They arrested him, put him
in jail for four months-- the sentence was four months-- and six strikes with a cane. Sentence was reduced to four. So they believe in
corporal punishment. The Romans did as well,
but much more severely than Singaporeans. I had a thought, and I
lost it, non-important. Verse 23, "and when they had
laid many stripes on them," oh yes. Paul talks about the
punishment that he received in his ministry
in one of his letters. And he says, "three times,
I was beaten with rods." This is one of those times. The other two we don't have the
assurance on when there was. But he says, "three times,
I was beaten with rods. I had many stripes laid on
me, innumerable stripes. But three times in particular,
I was beaten with rods." This is one of those times,
just wanted to tie that thought. Verse 24, "having received
such a charge, he, the jailer put them
into the inner prison and fastened their
feet in stocks." Now is the low point of
Paul's ministry in Philippi. Now he's in the inner prison. Roman prisons had three parts. They had sort of an
outward community part where there was
both light and air that was fresher for prisoners
who had minimal charges. Then there was the interiorium,
the anterior portion of the prison where they
were separated by metal bars and gates and placed in stocks. But then, there was the
inner prison, the third part, sort of like a dark
hole in the ground, like the Mamertine
Prison in Rome. Paul was placed in
that inner dark prison. Now he is looking
for the will of God, he's is out to serve the Lord. He's in the ministry
because of the call of the Lord on his life. He gets a no and then
no and then a vision. The vision said come to
Macedonia and help us. I'm coming, Lord. I'm coming, man from Macedonia. Gets there, no man, but a
few chicks at the river. And one of them
says yes to Jesus. We're off to a good start. Not what I expected, here we go. Now I'm in jail, now
I'm in the inner prison. That's a low point. What does Paul do? Does he blame God? Does he get angry with God? How could a God of love allow
this to happen to an apostle. No, he praises God. He worships God. It's the amazing
part of the story. Verse 25, "but at
midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and
singing hymns to God. And the prisoners were
listening to them." Now, I don't know
how excited they were to hear them at midnight. I mean, you might want to just
try this at midnight tonight when your wife or
husband is sleeping. Just sit up and
start singing to them and see how they respond to you. I don't know if they were
so stoked to hear hymns at midnight. It's like, dude, get some sleep. It's hard enough in here. Just a thought. "Suddenly, there was
a great earthquake so that the foundations
of the prison were shaken and, immediately, all
the doors were opened and everyone's
chain was loosed." Paul's in prison,
what did he do? You know, would you do? You follow the will of God. You want God's
will for your life. You think God is
leading you, and He is, but to a jail in the inner
prison my feet in stocks? What do you pray? How do you pray for
those who arrested you? Well, a psalm comes to mind. David once prayed
for his enemies a prayer that I have memorized. "Break their teeth in
their mouth, oh God." Isn't that a great prayer? That would be my prayer if
I were Paul in that prison. God, get them. You know how to
people, get them. But he worships. He turns it into a sanctuary. "And the keeper of the
prison, awaking from sleep, seeing the prison
doors open, supposing the prisoners had
fled, drew his sword, was about to kill himself." Why? Because he'd be killed anyway. The punishment for a soldier
if prisoners escape was death. "Paul called with
a loud voice,"-- gotta love Paul saying,
"do yourself no harm. We're here." Not like, the doors opened. Let's get out. He's staying. "And then he called for a
light and ran in and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought
them out and said, sirs, what must
I do to be saved? Don't you love it when somebody
asks you that question. Very rarely have
I had this happen. But I have had people come to
me in the weirdest situations saying, so how do
I get to heaven? What do I need to
do to be saved? That's an open door. That's probably an indication
that God wants you to witness now. What must I do to be saved? And of course, Paul says,
well, you should join a church and pay your tithe, and
you should be baptized. No, his answer is believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved
and your household. What does that mean? We'll tell you next time. Thank you, Father,
for the opportunity we have to look at the life
of an incredible individual, an amazing man,
who pushed forward, had his own unique
style of ministry-- not quite like Barnabas but
uniquely cut out of Your cloth, uniquely called by You,
empowered by You gifted, by You and used by You. Lord, that boldness, that
head strong personality got him in trouble many times. But at the same time,
oh, how you used him and how thankful we are
for all of the prison encounters of the apostle Paul. Because of Paul's
imprisonments, we are able to enjoy the
book of Philippians and the book of
Colossians and many more. Lord, I pray for anybody here
who's wondering, what must I do to be saved. What is it I need to do to
get from Earth to heaven, to find favor with God? And the answer to
them is the answer Paul said this jailer, believe,
trust, commit your life to, put their faith on Jesus
Christ, and you will be saved. I pray for anyone who is not
saved who is with us tonight. They are not sure that
if they were to die, they would go to heaven. They're not certain that if
they took their last breath, they would see You welcoming
them into Your kingdom. Because, Lord, they
have not believed. They have not really
placed their faith, their weight on You. They haven't trusted You. They've trusted a church. They've trusted an organization. They haven't personally
received Christ. I pray for anyone here
who hasn't done that yet and needs to do it, that they
would place their faith, trust in Jesus right here. Maybe you are with us tonight. And you're not sure you're
saved, you can be sure. The Bible wants you to be sure. Maybe you haven't personally
made a commitment to Christ yet, I want you to
know God loves you. And He wants to save you. But He need you to let Him. He need you to cooperate
by believing in Him. If you are willing
to do that, I'd want you to raise your hand
up right where you seated. Our heads are bowed,
our eyes are closed. I'll see your hand,
and I'll pray for you. I need to know who
I'm praying for. Just raise your hand
if you're saying, Skip, I'm going to make
this my decision tonight. God bless you and you and
you and you, four of you right here to my
left in the middle. Anyone else? Raise your hand so I can
see it, raise it up high. God bless you and you and you
right up here again to my left. Anybody else? Father, we thank you for
those who have so indicated. We pray for them, that, Lord,
not only would you save them, but you give them a peace
that passes all understanding. They would know that
their lives will be different from
this moment on as they make that prayer
to receive Christ as their Savior and Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Would you stand your feet? If you raise your hand and
ask you to do something. Because Jesus called people
in the New Testament publicly. He called them to
follow Him publicly. And I had you raise your hand. And when you come
forward in a moment, I'm going to lead you
on a word of prayer. If you raised your
hand, would you please now find the
nearest aisle around you, and make your way right up
here to the front, where in just a moment
you come, I'm going to lead you in a prayer to make
it personal to receive Christ into your heart. This is an important
step for you to make. As we sing, get
up and come, just say excuse me if you're
in the middle of a row. Doesn't matter, just come
and stand right up here. God bless you. If you're in the prayer room,
come through those doors and stand here. I saw hands go up here. We're going to wait
for you, but you come. Come and make sure,
come all the way up. [MUSIC - "COME AS YOU ARE"]
Come all who are broken, lift up your face. Wanderer, come home. You're not too far. Don't overthink this thing,
just get up and come. If you raised your hand, make
a public commitment to Christ. Follow that decision up by
putting feet on your faith. [MUSIC - "COME AS YOU ARE"]
Come as you are. Come as you are. We'll wait just another
moment very quickly. Anybody else? Wanderer, come home. You're not too far. So lay down your hurt,
lay down your heart, and come as you are. Come as you are. Those of you who
have come forward, I'm going to ask you to
say a prayer with me. I'm going to pray
something loud. I'm going to ask you to just
pray this out loud after me. Say these words from your heart. Mean them as you
say them to God. This is you given
your life over to Him. Let's pray. Say Lord, I give you my life. I admit that I'm a sinner. Please forgive me. I believe in Jesus. I place my faith in Him. I believe He came from heaven to
earth, that He died on a cross, that He shed His
blood for my sin. And I believe He
rose from the dead. I turn from my sin. I turn to Jesus as my Savior. Help me to follow
Him as my Lord. It's in Jesus'
name I pray, amen. For more resources from Calvary
Albuquerque and Skip Heitzig, visit calvaryabq.org. [MUSIC PLAYING]
